Method and apparatus for manufacturing roofing



Jan; 12, 193 2.. F. c. OVERBURY 2 3 3 METHOD AND APPARATUS -FOR MANUFACTURING'ROOFING Filed Aug. 5, 1927 uuumw g Q. 4;... .1. I

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ATTORN Patented Jan. 12, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FREDERICK C. OVEBBURY, OF HILLSDALE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE PATENT AND LICENSING CORPORATION, 015 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS METHOD APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING ROOFING Application filed August 5, 1927. Serial- No. 210,832.

This invention relates to prepared roofing of the type now being manufactured in vast quantities by impregnating and coating flexible felted sheets of rag or other fibrous material with waterproofing compound such as asphalt, and thereafter applying to the coated sheet a protective layer of crushed slate, tile or the like which is partially embedded in the coating and which may serve also to provide the finished roofing material with any desired ornamental appearance.

One of the forms in which this type of roofing is extensively put on the market at the present time is what is known as the strip shingle, consisting of strips of suitable length, having a plurality of tabs or projections slightly spaced "apart by means of narrow cut-out portions so as to simulate the appearance of individual shingles when the strips are assembled on the roof in the customary fashion, with the tabs or projections exposed to the weather.

The common practice in producing strip shingles of this type is to saturate and coat the felted sheet with the asphalt or other waterproofing compound, and thereupon afiply to the sheet, while the coating is still so any suitable surfacing material such as crushed slate or grit. After the surfacing has been properly imbedded and the sheet has been cooled to the desired extent, it is fed to suitable cutting machines adapted to form the slots separating the shingle simulating tabs, and to sever the strips from the sheet.

In the manufacture of roofing in accordance with the procedure heretofore briefly described, the material cut away from the sheet in forming the slots represents just that much waste which cannot be utilized or recovered due to the presence therein of the crushed mineral matter.

In the average strip shingle as thus made, the area of the slots separating the tabs is approximately 3% of the total area of the strip,

so that for every 100 square feet of this type i of roofing manufactured, there is a wastage of 3. square feet of finished roofing fabric. \Vith the enormous quantities of asphalt prepared roofing now being manufactured in theform described, this 3% represents not only a tremendous economic waste, but the material forming this waste imposes upon the manufacturer the additional burden of disposal.

In my issued Patents No. 1,314,476 and 1,314,477, both dated August 26, 1919, I have suggested several methods by which this waste might be eliminated, and other important advantages incidentally attained.

Briefly, these methods contemplate the format1on of the slots in the sheet of raw felt, pr1or to the saturationand coating thereof,

or in the saturated sheet prior to the coat-' In carrying into practice, however, the,

methods as described in said patents, it is found diflicult to adjust the chopping knives, which sever the complete individual strips from the sheet so as to accurately register the filnzzl cutting operation with the preformed s o s.

This difficulty appears to be explainable by the fact that the sheet undergoes stretching, or elongation, during'its subjection tothe various steps of the manufacture. This stretching of the sheet between the time that the slots are out herein and the final severing of the strips, varies in accordance with the character and tensile strength of the sheet, the strains and pulls imposed thereon, and

the thermal condition to which it is subjected during the process, with the result 1 that as the sheet passes .under the chop ing knives, the severing takes place along ines more or less displaced or offset from the lines actually intended to form the upperand lower edges of thestrip. a

In my present invention I aim to overcome this difiiculty and in accordance herewith, I pre-slot-the sheet as described in said patents, and then before subjecting it to any further treatment which might .result in stretching thereof, I weaken it along the lines upon which the successive strips are to be separated from the sheet, so that the strips may be pulled away or torn from the sheet along these pre-weakened lines defining the upper and lower edges of the strips.

An incidental ob ect of the invention resides in the production of roofing strips, the exposed edges whereof are in the form of irregular or jagged lines which give to the roof a highly desirable ornamental appearance.

Further objects will more fully hereinafter appear from the description. i

In the drawings Figure -1 represents a diagrammatic arrangement of apparatus for carrying out the invention.

Figure 2 is a similar view with the parts arranged in a somewhat different succession.

Figure 3 is a view in perspective of a section of slotting and perforating roll.

Figure 4 illustrates the appearance of a portion of a sheet prior to the separation of strips therefrom.

Figure 5 is a similar illustration showing strips arranged to be cut lengthwise of the sheet.

Figure 6 indicates generally the appearance of a strip as produced'by my present invention.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, the sheet of felt or other fibrous material wound upon a roll is indicated at 10. The sheet is drawn from the roll by a pair of pull rolls 11 and fed to mechanism adapted to form the slots separating the tabs of the completed strip and to weaken the sheet in proper relation to these slots. The devices for forming the tab separating slots and for weakening the sheet may be arranged either on the same or on separate rolls.

As illustrated on the drawings, the former arrangement is preferred, and for this purpose I provide suitable mechanism including a carrier roll 12, and a co-operating bed roll 13, journalled in suitable supports, as will be understood. The roll 12 is formed along its periphery with spaced cutting members 14 for forming slots 16 in thesheet of roofing material as shown for example at A in Figure 4. In the preferred form the carrier roll 12 is also provided with spaced rows of spikes or punches 17 adapted to puncture or otherwise weaken the sheet along lines which ultimately form the top and bottom edges of the severed strips. If desired, the spikes or punches may be arranged upon separate rolls' and the puncturing operation may either precede or follow the slotting of the sheet. The bed roll 13 is preferably provided with apertures properly spaced to co-operate with the cutters 14 and punches 17 in forming the slots 16 and punctures 18 in the sheet.

As shown in Figure 4, the slots 16 may be arranged longitudinally of the sheet in a plurality of transverse rows and the punctures 18 may be formed transversely of the sheet so as to be disposed in alignment with one end of the slots in each transverse row. If desired, the slots and punctures may be arranged as shown in Figure 5.

Instead of weakening the sheet by means of small circular punches or spikes, any equivalent device may be employed for this purpose. Thus, the punches 17 may be of any desired configuration as long as the dimensions are such as to puncture through the sheet without removing any substantial amount of material therefrom. Furthermore, instead of puncturing the sheet, I may weaken it by scoring part way through the felted material to any desired depth sufficient to permit the subsequent tearing of the sheet along the scored lines.

While the sheet would be weakened sufiiciently to enable the strips to be pulled apart therefrom, after the processing of the sheet is completed, still the character and extent of the punctures or the scorations should not be such as to weaken the sheet to the extent that it becomes unable to Withstand the strains and pulls encountered inthe subsequent operations. For a given machine and with a selected grade of felt, however, simple tests will readily indicate to the manufacturer just how far he may safely proceed in weak ening the sheet in order to carry the present invention into practice.

After slotting and weakening the sheet as described, it is led into a tank 20 where it is immersed in a bath of saturating material such as low melting point asphalt, or the like. in fluid condition, the sheet upon leaving the tank being passed through squeeze rolls 21 for removing excess saturant therefrom. The sheet is then carried through a festooning mechanism indicated at 22, where it is allowed to cool and dry to the desired degree, after which it is fed to the coating mechanism illustrated at 23. In passing through this mechanism the top of the sheet is coated with a layer of relatively high melting point asphalt supplied through the pipe 24 and spread over the surface by the roll 25. The coating material being fluid will pass down through the slots in the sheet and serve to seal the edges thereof.

If desired, asphalt coating may also be applied in a thin film to the lower surface of the sheet by means of a roll 26 revolving within the receptacle 27 containing coating asphalt and contacting with the underside of the crushed slate or mineral grit, which is screened onto the top surface of the sheet while the coating is still soft and plastic. Suitable receptacles 28 are provided for applying mineral grits or the like and the sheet is then led around a series of press rolls 29, functioning to partially imbed the grlt. in the layer of coating material. The underside of the sheet may be covered with grit or finely :omminuted material such as talc, supplied through the box 28.

The sheet is then cooled as by means of an air draft 30, whereupon it is in readiness to have the shingle strips separated therefrom. In cooling the sheet, conventional festooning apparatus similar to that indicated at 22, may replace the air draft, or may be used in conjunction therewith.

The mechanism for separating the strips from the sheet, preferably comprises a pair of feed rolls 31, suitably mounted and geared to rotate at a peripheral speed substantially equal to the speed of the sheet through the instrumentalitles already described, and a second pair of draw rolls 32 spaced a slight distance in advance of the rolls 31 and geared to rotate at a speed in excess of that of the last-namedrolls. The distance between the pair of rolls 32 and the rolls 31 will depend upon the dimensions of the strip being manufactured, and for this reason it is desirable that these pairs of rolls be mounted so as to be adjustable toward and away from each other, to operate upon the various sizes of shingle strips that may be manufactured. In any event however, the distance between these rolls should be such that as the'end of the sheet passes into the grip of the rolls 32, the succeeding line of punctures or scorings 18 has cleared the pair of rolls 31. The end of the sheet gripped by the rolls 32 will immediately begin to travel faster than the succeeding portions of the sheet, with the result that there is a pull upon the sheet sufficient to tear it along the next weakened line. The strips thus separated are then delivered to suitable conveying mechanism 33 and conducted to the point of assembly into packages.

If desired the operation of tearing the strips from the sheet may be assisted by arranging the rolls 32 with their axes at a slight horizontal angle to theaxes of the rolls 31, as shown, so that each successivestrip will initially be torn' at one edge of the sheet and the tearing then proceed along the weakened line to the opposite edge thereof.

In Figure 2,-I have shown a slight'variation of the arrangement shown in Figure 1, the essential diflerence' being that in this layout of apparatus the slotting and weakening of the sheet take place after it-has been impregnated with the satur'ant, rather than prior thereto. In this figure the slotting and puncturing-rolls are shown at 12 and 13', the sheet being fed to the rolls from the festooning mechanism 22 by means of a pair of feed rolls 35. The saturated sheet, after being provided withthe slots and punctures orsco're marks, is then conducted to the coating, surfacing, and cooling devices indicated bythe same numerals as in Figure 1, and

thereafter is passed through the draw rolls may, in certain cases, be desirable to form.

the slots in the sheet prior to saturation and the punctures subsequent to the saturation, or vice versa.

In any event however, my invention provides a method of severing strip shingles from a sheet of roofing material by pulling or tearing the elements from the sheet along weakened lines formed at predetermined spaced intervals, in proper relation to the pre-formed slots, and thus eliminates the difficulties attendant upon the proper registration of a cutting or chopping operation with the pre-formed slots.

I have illustrated in Figure 6 the general appearance of a strip shingle 36 as produced by my present invention. It will be noted that the upper edge 37 and the butt edge 38 thereof, arenot straight or even, but present an irregular and jagged outline, resulting from the tearing of the sheet through the lines of unctures or score-marks 18. By using di erent styles of punches, different effects may obviously be produced. This roughened and irregular formation of the exposed butt edge of the strip is to be distinguished from the straight even edge of shingles as now commercially produced and lends a highly desirable ornamental appearance to the finished roof. Hence this feature of the invention may be utilized in certain instances irrespective of the peculiar advantages above pointed out in conjunction with a pre-slotted sheet. Thus, I may produce individuals of any desired shape or strips with or Without tab separating slots, by scoring or puncturing the sheet along outlines corresponding to the shape-of the element,

and then separating the elements from the sheet by suitable mechanism designed so as to pull or tear the elements from the sheet along the weakened lines.

- Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The method of producing shingle strips which comprises forming a sheet of roofing material with slots constituting the tab separating spaces of the finished strips, weakening the sheet along lines in predetermined relation to said slots, coating the sheet with waterproof material, surfacing the coated areas of the sheet and thereafter exerting a pull upon the sheet to separate the strips along said weakened lines.

2. The method of producing shingle strips which com rises formin a sheet of roofing material w1th slots constituting the tab separating s aces of the finished strips, weakening the s eet along lines in predetermined relation to said slots, coating the sheet with waterproof material, surfacing the coated areas oi the sheet, and thereafter tearing the advancing a sheet of roofing, means for forming tab-defining slots in a sheet of roofing material, of means for weakening said sheet along lines in predetermined relation to said slots, means for thereafter passing the sheet through saturation and coating zones, and means cooperating in timed relation with the said sheet advancing means for subsequently parting strips automatically from said sheet.

5. In apparatus for producing flexible roofing elements from a sheet of roofing base, means for slotting the sheet to define tabs of the finished elements, means for weakening the sheet along lines defining certain edges of the finished elements, means for coating the sheet thus slotted and weakened with waterproofing material, and means for separating the elements along said weakened lines.

6. In apparatus for producing flexible roofing elements from a sheet of roofing base, means for forming in the sheet slots and weakened zones defining respectively, the tabs and certain edges of the finished elements, and means for coating tne sheet thus slotted and weakened.

7. In apparatus for producing flexible roofing elements from a sheet of roofing base, means for forming in the sheet slots and weakened zones defining respectively, the tabs and certain edges of the finished elements, means for coating the sheet thus slotted and weakened, and means for separating the elements from the coated sheet along said weakened lines.

8. The steps in the process of manufacturing flexible roofing elements which consists in slotting the roofing materialtoconstitutetabs, weakening the sheet along lines in predetermined relation to said slots, and in subsequently coating the sheet with waterproofing material.

9. The method of producing shingle strips which comprises impregnating a sheet of roofing material with a hydrocarbon saturant, cutting slots in said sheet to define the spaces between the tabs of the completed strips, weakening said sheet along lines in predetermined. relation to said slots, coating the slotted and weakened sheet with waterproof material, and thereafter separating strips from the sheet by tearing the sheet along said weakened lines.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

FREDERICK C. OVERBURY. 

